thēselues to the Lords Supper but after dewe examination of themselues 6 The godly are not defiled if they receiue the holy cōmunion at such time as wicked men do present them selues and are admitted to the Lords table 7 The Lordes Supper must be commō to all the godly not priuate to the minister alone 8 Gods people must not be barred from the cup in the Lordes Supper 9 What consecration is 10 The substance of bread and wine remayne in the Lords Supper after the wordes of consecration 11 The wicked do not eate Christes body in the Sacrament 12 Christes body is not euery where 13 The bread and wine in the Lordes Supper must not bee reserued for any superstitious vse 14 Howe gods children must be haue themselues at and after the receyuing of the holy Supper ⧠A Treatise of the Lords Supper 1 What the Lordes Supper is The Lordes Supper is a holy action wherein according to Christes institution the Sacrament of his bodye and blood by a misticall breaking of breade and blessing of the cuppe is distributed by the minister and receyued by the godly assēblie wherein the remembrance of Christes sacrifice on the alter of the crosse is celebrated with perfourmance of most humble thankes to his Maiestie and of Christian charitie amongst our selues 2 Why two elements that is to say bread and wine are vsed in the Lordes Supper and but one element that is to say water in the Sacrament of Baptisme Christ in baptisme is propounded vnto vs as a lauer therefore only water is sufficient But in the Lords Supper because Christ as heauenly foodé is giuen vnto vs and that this life of ours hath neede as well of drinke as meate it pleased our Sauiour Christ to vse in this holy supper both wine and bread that we may be well assured that our whole life is to bee sought by vs in Iesus Christ alone The Passeouer consisted of two elements meate and drinke Exod. cha 12 verse 8. The lambe with the vnleauened breade was the meate the cup of the Testament wherin there was remembrāce of the blood whiche was clapt vppon the Israelites doore postes for assurance of their deliueraunce our of Egypt was the drinke in the Passeouer The Lordes supper consisteth of two partes meat drinke Christes body offred for vs on the crosse is the meate Christes blood shedde on the crosse for our sinnes is the drynke Our Sauiour Christ instituting a Sacrament of this meate and drinke Matth. chap. 26. vs. 26. 27 vseth bread and wine for the externall signes in this Sacrament 8 Why Christ did celebrate the supper at night The Passeouer by Moses law was to be eaten at night Exod. cha 12 verse 8. Iosu chap. 5. vers 10. Christ did first eate the Paschall lambe and did presently after institute the Sacramente of the Supper in the place of the Passeouer Wee are not tyed to the euentide for the celebration of the Lords Supper because Christe did so for wee are not bounde to eate any Passeouer immediatly before the Lords supper as Christ was by the lawe of Moses and in the forenoone whilest we are fasting wee are more earnestly and reuerently addicted to the partaking of the word and Sacrament He that thinkes that the Lordes Supper must of force be ministred at night because Iesus Christ did so will I feare bee mooued by a little perswasion to deferre baptisme vntill the age of thirtie yeeres Euseb lib. 1. cap. 10. because Christ before that time was not partaker of that holy Sacrament 4 The essentiall partes of the Lords Supper are not to be omitted but the accidentall may The essentiall ceremonies of the Lordes supper are these that the minister after a reuerent deliuery of the words of Christes institution and inuocation of the name of God breaketh the bread when it is broken distributeth it to the communicants in order afterwards likewise the cup. They whiche present them selues to the Lordes table are commaunded to take and eate the bread and to drinke of the cuppe shewing the Lordes death that is to say professing their fayth in Christ Iesus with a solemne remembrance of his passion humble thankesgiuing to his Maiestie for that inestimable benefit These essentiall ceremonies may not bee eyther altered or omitted The accidentall ceremonies of the Lordes Supper are that it was ministred at night to the disciples whilest they did sitte at table These accidentall ceremonies may bee altred by the Churches ordre 5 None may presume to present themselues to the Lordes Supper but after due examination of themselues None might eate the Passeouer before he was prepared 2. Chro. cha 35. ver 6. The Passeouer was the same to the Israelites that the holie supper is to vs but because our sacrament is more excellent then theirs great care must be had in preparing our selues Saynt Paule commaundeth a man to examine himselfe 1. Cor. chap. 11. ver 28. before the pertaking of the holy Supper This examination consists in faith and repentance faith containeth the truth of our beleef repentaunce concerneth the amendement of our life Weakenes of faith ought not to withdraw vs from the holy communion seeing it is instituted for the strengthening of our faith Vncleannes of life which is priuate and not openly knowen neyther may nor doth barre any frō the Lordes supper but such as meane not to amend 6 The godly are not defiled if they receiue the holy communion at such time as wicked men doe present themselues and are admitted to the Lordes table He that eateth and drinketh vnworthily eateth and drinketh iudgement to himselfe 1. Cor. chap. 21. ver 29. S. Paule saieth to himselfe not to others The Apostle willeth a man to examine himselfe 1. Cor. chap. 21. ver 28. before he presēt himselfe to the Lords supper Hee requireth not any cōmunicant to examine the rest of that church which no doubt he would haue required if a godly mā were defiled by the vnworthines of any lewd cōmunicāt Obiection It is not lawfull for vs to eate our owne bread with a wicked man therefore it is not lawfull to eate the Lordes bread with him 1. Cor. chap. 5 ver 11. Answere It is in our power to practise the former but it is not in our power to abstayne from the Lords supper though east mē be at that time partakers with vs. It is a great sinne for a knowē wicked mā either to minister the Lords supper or to presēt himself to the holy cōmuniō such boldnes must be seuerely punished by thē in whose handes it is to redresse it But if this grosse sinne be practised no medicine vsed to cure it the godly must cōtent thēselues with grief for these enormities and remēber that the sacrament sealeth vp Gods sweete promises to thē which the wicked sorte at no hand are partakers of 7 The Lords supper must bee common to al the godly not
priuate to the minister alone When our Sauiour Christ did institute the holy supper commend it to his apostles Math. chap. 26. ver 26.27 he did neither eate drink alone for them nor cōmaunded that one of them shoulde eate and drinke for the rest but he sayde take yee eate yee c. Likewise drinke yee all of this c. 1. Cor. chap. 10. ver 16. The Apostle calleth the cup of blessing c the communion of the bloud of Christ and the bread which wee breake the communion of the bodie of Christ by which wordes it is manifest that the holie Supper must bee no priuate banquet Saint Paule willeth them of Corinth 1. Cor. chap. 11. ver 33. when they come together to eate to tarry one for another which words doe euidently condemne all priuate and alone pertaking of this holye Sacrament If any saye that Paules wordes proue not my purpose because they are to be refered to the Corinthian loue feastes my answere is that the Apostles wordes doe make greatly for my purpose though it were as they fay because the feasts of Corinth were ioyned with the celebration of the holie communion In the time of Iustinus Martyr al that were present in the holie assembly did cōmunicate Apol 2 pro Christ Priuate Masses as yet were neither borne nor conceiued c. 8 Gods people must not bee barred from the cup in the Lordes Supper Christ at the first institution of the holy Supper said drinke ye al of this Math. chap. 26. ver 27. c. If the papists say that Christ spake vnto the Apostles onely my answere is that they may as wel barre Gods people from the bread of the Sacrament because onely the Apostles were partakers of the bread as well as of the cup at the institution of the Supper Let a man examine himselfe 1. Cor. chap. 11. ver 28. and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup c. Saint Paule ioynes the bread and cup together how then dare any man make a diuorce betweene the bread and the cup Saint Paule speaketh to the whole body of the Church howe dare anye man presume to barre Gods people from the cup and to restrayne it to the popish priestes The breaking of the bread and distributing of the cup to the communicants are essential parts of the holy supper therfore may not be omitted or altred In Iustinus Martyres tyme after cōsecration of the bread and cup Apol. 2. pro Christ both bread and cup were distributed to the communicants In Cyprians Ambroses and Chrisostomes time Cyp. lib. 1. Epist 2. Theodoritus lib. 5. cap. 18. Chrysost in cap. 8. epist 2. ad Corinth Hom. 18. Gods people were partakers of the cup in the Lords supper Innocentius the 3. was the first that shut Gods people frō the cup in the Lordes supper He did this strāge fact in the Laterane councell in the yeare of our Lorde 1215. 9 What consecration is Consecration is a dedicating to the holy vse of the supper of so much bread wine as shal be occupied in the celebration of the holy communiō and neither more nor lesse Cōsecratiō stādeth not in the abolishing of natures but in the conuerting of the naturall elemēts into a godly vse This is cleere in both the sacramēts whē the minister hath added the word of institutiō to the water it is no more common water but baptisme which is a Sacramēt of our Regeneratiō Whē he hath done the like to the elemēts of bread wine it is no more cōmon bread common wyne but the sacrament of the body bloud of Christ Iesus yet the substaunce of water is not abolished in baptisme nor the substance of bread and wine in the Lords supper If anie say that the meate which is set on the table at dinner supper 1. Tim. chap. 4. ver 5. is dedicated to a godly vse when it is sanctified by the worde of God prayer I grāt it to be so but there is another signification of that then of this in the sacramēt We obtaine by the word of God prayer the lawful vse of Gods creatures at our dinners suppers that if any iot of Gods first curse vpō the earth and fruites thereof remained it shal not be hurtfull to vs but the elemēts signes in the sacraments become more excellēt things by many degrees for by Gods worde institution they are made signes mysteries of our saluation 10 The substance of bread and wine remaine in the Lordes Supper after the words of Consecration The bread which we breake in the Lords supper 1. Cor. chap. 10. ver 16. is it not the partaking of the body of Christ Saint Paule doeth expressely call that which is broken bread not the Accidents of bread I will not hence forth drinke of this fruite of the vine c. by the fruite of the Mat. cha 26 ver 29. vine our Sauiour Christ meaneth wyne not the accidentes of wyne By Accidents of bread wine are vnderstāded the colour roundnes breadth tast c. of bread and wyne The worde of institution is added to the Element and it is made a Sacrament Tract 80. in Iohan. Augustine saith not that it taketh away or expelleth the element Tertullian calles that bread by which Christ represented his bodie Tertul. lib. 1. cont Mar. The same Tertullian labouring to prooue that Christ had not a fantasticall body as the Heretique Marcion imagined but a true body reasons thus frō the sacramēt Christ did giue bread in the sacrament for a true figure of his body lib. 4. cont Mar. therefore Christ had not a fantasticall but a true bodie If no substance of bread remayne in the Lordes Supper which the Papistes hold Tertullians argument against Marcion were verye weake and Marcions monstrous opinion were very strong If we say that Christes bodie is made of the substance of bread how is it true that his body was made of the substāce of the blessed virgin There must be alwayes an Analogie betweene the signe and the thing fignified in the sacrament The Analogie in the holy supper appeareth in ferding The body bloud of Christ doth feed our soules the bread and wine doeth feed our bodies If the substāce of bread wine bee abolished what is left to feede our bodies If the popish sort say that the Accidēts of bread wine doe feede vs they teach strange both diuinitie and philosophie straunge diuinitie because they are manifestly confuted by Christ and Paule straunge philosphie Math. chap. 26. verse 26. 1. Cor. chap. 10. ver 17. Arist cap. 5. de sensu sensili because they reuiue an olde and grosse errour of the Pithagoreans confuted long agoe by Aristotle Besides the Philosophers teach vs that wee consist of the same thinges wherewith we are nourished If we be fedd and nourished with Accidents the
substance of our bodies must consist of Arcidentes The popish sorte call vs Sacramentaries that is to say such as doe abolish the force vse of the Sacrament If our doctrine did ouerthrow the Analogie of the Sacrament is theirs doth we might iustly be called Sacramentaries TransubstaÌ„tiatioÌ„ was borne in yâ— coâ—cel of Laterane in the yeere of our Lord 1215. Obiection Christ said at the institution of the holy supper Math. chap. 26. ver 26. This is my body therefore the substance of the bread is changed into the body of Christ Answere This argument hangs together like saÌ„d c. If Christ wheÌ„ he reached bread vnto his Apostles did giue his body really substantially to be eaten of them then had Christ many reall substaÌ„tial bodies at in one the selfe same time place which is a grosse absurditie I confesse that Christes speech this is my body when he had giuen the bread to his Apostles is a very true speech If it be a true speech it must bee true either properly and literally or figuratiuely If it be true properly literally then whatsoeuer may bee saide of Christes body as that it was borne of the blessed virgine suffered dyed rose againe c may be applied to the brend in the Sacramente whatsoeuer may be said of the bread as that it was sowen reaped threshed baked c may bee likewise applied to Christes bodie which no man that feareth God can admit If Christs speech be vnderstanded literally he did commaunde a foule and haynous thing which is sufficient to proue it a figuratiue speech Leb 3. cap. 16 de doct Chri. according to Augustines rule If any doe aske me what I take to be the true meaning of Christes words This is my body My aunswere is that they are notably expounded by S. Paule when he saith the bread which we breake 1. Cor. chap. 10. ver 16. is it not the partaking of the body of Christ Question If Christ be not bodily present in the sacrameÌ„t what do Gods childreÌ„ receiue wheÌ„ they are partakers of the holy supper Answere They receiue the food of life immortality they eate life drink life when the sacrament is reached vnto them they receiue as bread wine for the nourishing of their bodies so the body bloud of the Lord Iesus for the most comfortable nourishing of their soules If any either drowned in Popery or inclined to it shall peruse this which I haue written I referre him for his further instruction to a notable treatise of Christs body and bloud writteÌ„ by Bertram vnto the Emperour Charles the great This Bertrame was both a Priest and a Monke and liued in the yeare of our Lord 840. 11 The wicked doe not eate Christes bodie in the Sacrament Christ cannot be separated from his spirite which spirite of Christ because the wicked haue not they caÌ„not be partakers of Christ Hee that eateth Christ shall liue by Christ Iohn chap. 6. verse 57. Iohn chap. 6. ver 56. Iohn chap. 15 ver 5. the wicked shal not liue by Christ He that eateth my flesh drinketh my bloud abideth in me I in him The wicked doe not abide in Christ because they bring not forth much fruite The meate of the soule is not eaten of theÌ„ which haue not the mouth of the foule Cyprian writes that the wicked doe licke the rocke De coena Domini but that they sucke from thence neyther hony nor oyle because they are quickned neither with any sweetnes of charity nor with any moysture of the holy spirit besides that they neyther iudge themselues nor discerne the sacraments For further proofe of this poynt I referre the learned reader to Cyprians treatise of the holy Supper Question Whosoeuer shall eate this bread drinke the cup of the Lord vnworthely 1. Cor. chap. 11. ver 27. shall be guiltie of the bodie and bloud of the Lord. The wicked are guiltie of the bodie bloud of the Lord therefore the wicked doe eate the bodie drinke the bloud of the Lorde Answeare The argument folowes not and the wicked are guilty of the body bloud of the Lorde because they eate drinke vnworthely the bread wine which are sacrameÌ„ts of the body and bloud of the Lorde For the iniury done to the Sacramentall signes reacheth to the thinges which are signified by them If the princes cloth of estate be abused it is a grosse fault and the iniury reacheth to the person of the Prince Obiection The wicked man is guiltie of the Lords body because hee discerneth not the Lords body 1. Cor. chap. 11. ver 29. therefore by eating Christes body he is guilty Answere The argument followes not for not to discerne the Lords body is to make no difference betweene the sacrament of Christes body coÌ„mon meate to abuse it which is a grosse sinne being committed against the sacrament reacheth vnto Christes body it selfe 12 Christes bodie is note uery where The Apostle Peter saith that heauen must containe Christ vntil the time that all things be restored Act. chap 3. ver 21. that is to say vntill Christes second comming The Angels say that Christ is taken vp into heauen c. Acts chap. 1. ver 11. If he be taken vp into heauen touching his body which must needs be the meaning of the Angels wordes how is Christes bodye in many places at once If Christs body be in many places at once then Christs body is infinit if it be infinite then Christes humanity is eyther abolished of made infinite by being turned into the godhead which are grosse heresies fauour the moÌ„strous opinioÌ„s of Eutiches SchweÌ„kfeldins Obiection The diuinity humanity are vnited in Christ therefore where the godhead is the maÌ„hood is likewise but the godhead is euery where therefore the manhood is euery where Answeare The person of Christ is but one and yet in doth so coÌ„sist of two natures that the proprieties of ech nature doeth must remayne whole without confusion to their seuerall natures For to deny or confounde the proprieties Lib. 4. cont Eutish is to confounde the natures Vigilius saith that Christ is contayned in a place by the nature of his fleshe and is not contayned in a place by the nature of his godhead Epist 57. ad Dardanum Augustine is very pleÌ„tifull flat for this point in one of his epistles I confesse that the proprieties of Christes maÌ„hood may be applied to his godhead contrarimise that the proprieties of his godhead may bee applied to his maÌ„hood but yet without coÌ„fouÌ„ding the natures as for exaÌ„ple Christes passion doth pertaine to his flesh according to the proprietie of nature and if pertaynes to the worde that is to saye Christes godhead according to the person Vigil lib. 2. cont Eutich because there is one and the selfe same person both of the worde and